Description: Plaque reads “In a cellar under this mound, Reverend J. Heckewelder and D. Peter, in 1779, deposited the bones. Burial mound (18 ft. across, 5 ft. high) located 200 feet south of a 37-foot-high monument made of Indiana marble. The Gnadenhutten massacre of 100 Christian Delaware Indians by American militia is often called the worst atrocity of the American Revolution. A raiding party of 160 Pennsylvania militiamen led by Lieutenant Colonel David Williamson, executed 96 Christian Indians: 28 men, 29 women and 39 children. Their skulls were crushed by mallets and they were scalped. Two young boys escaped. The town was burned and a missionary later found the bodies and buried them in a mass grave. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F01_030
Subjects: Monument--indian massacre--German missionaries--Moravian Christians; Gnadenhutten Massacre
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); New Philadelphia (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows a 35 foot tall limestone (another account says Indiana Marble) obelisk bearing the inscription (on the south side): "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians, March 8, 1782." The north side bears the date of the dedication ceremony. The Gnadenhutten Monument Fund commissioned R.S. Miller of Indiana to construct the memorial, in 1871. It stands in the in the center of the old village, in the Gnadenhutten Historical Park and Cemetery, on Cherry Street. The Gnadenhutten massacre, also known as the Moravian massacre, was the killing on March 8, 1782, of ninety-six Christian Lenape (Delaware) by colonial American militia from Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War. The incident took place at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhütten, Ohio, near present-day Gnadenhutten. The site of the village was preserved. A reconstructed cabin and cooper's house were built there, and a monument to the dead was erected. The village site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B14F03_025_001
Subjects: Monuments--Ohio; Memorials--Ohio; Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782; American Indians in Ohio
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 1930s-era photograph shows an area surrounded by an iron fence with 10 stone pillars. The body of David Zeisberger, missionary and founder of nearby Gnadenhutten, as well as William Edwards, missionary, and William Henry "Chief Killbuck" Gelelemend, who was head chief of the Delaware Indian Council, are buried within the enclosure. There are also several rows of Indian graves and a few other missionaries buried in the cemetery. Zeisbergers Memorial Cemetery, sometimes called the Goshen-Indian Cemetery, is located between Goshen Valley Road SE (Township Hwy 322) and David Road SE in Goshen. A Moravian village was established in Goshen in 1798 by David Zeisberger, of Pennsylvania, and a band of Christian Indians. For 16 years after the Gnadenhutten massacre in 1782 the little band of refugees had moved from place to place. In 1798 they went back to Tuscarawas, setting up new villages on the 12, 000 acres of land granted them by Congress, and prospered for a while. But the deaths of the missionaries and the return of Pastor Heckwelder to Pennsylvania left the Ohio converts without effective guidance, and Goshen and the other missions settlements declined. In 1832 Goshen ceded its holdings to the Government for $6, 654, and the town virtually disappeared. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F01_018
Subjects: Cemeteries--Ohio; Moravian Church -- Missions -- Ohio; Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782; Zeisberger, David, 1721-1808
Places: Gnadenhutten; Goshen (Ohio); New Philadelphia (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Handwritten on reverse: "Gnadenhutten Indian Monument. S.H. Green, W. High Ave. New Phila." This photograph shows a 35 foot tall limestone (another account says Indiana Marble) obelisk bearing the inscription (on the south side): "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians, March 8, 1782." The north side bears the date of the dedication ceremony. The Gnadenhutten Monument Fund commissioned R.S. Miller of Indiana to construct the memorial, in 1871. It stands in the in the center of the old village, in the Gnadenhutten Historical Park and Cemetery, on Cherry Street. The Gnadenhutten massacre, also known as the Moravian massacre, was the killing on March 8, 1782, of ninety-six Christian Lenape (Delaware) by colonial American militia from Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War. The incident took place at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhütten, Ohio, near present-day Gnadenhutten. The site of the village was preserved. A reconstructed cabin and cooper's house were built there, and a monument to the dead was erected. The village site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F10_028_1
Subjects: Monuments--Ohio; Memorials--Ohio; Obelisks; Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Illustration showing the massacre of American Indians led by Colonel David Williamson of the Pennsylvania militia. In 1772, Moravian missionaries founded a mission for American Indians in the Ohio Country at Schoenbrunn ("Beautiful Spring" in German). Because of its success, Rev. David Zeisberger founded a second village in the same year at Gnadenhutten ("Tents of Grace" in German). Life at Gnadenhutten was similar to life at Schoenbrunn. On March 8 and 9, 1782, a group of Pennsylvania militiamen under the command of Williamson attacked the mission and the American Indians on site in retaliation for the deaths and kidnappings of several white Pennsylvanians, although this particular group of so-called "Christian Delaware" had recently returned from their new outpost at Upper Sandusky to forage for crops, and had no connection to the Pennsylvania attack. In all, Williamson's men murdered 28 men, 29 women, and 39 children, and the village was burned. There were only two survivors, who informed Moravian missionaries and other American Indians as to what had occurred. This illustration comes from William Dean Howells' "Stories of Ohio" (1897). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07916
Subjects: Gnadenhutten Massacre; Moravian Church -- Missions -- Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Delaware Indians -- History
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Handwritten on reverse: "Zeisbergers Cemetery at Goshen. S.H. Green West High Ave. New Phila." This photograph shows an area surrounded by an iron fence with 10 stone pillars. The body of David Zeisberger, missionary and founder of nearby Gnadenhutten, as well as William Edwards, missionary, and William Henry "Chief Killbuck" Gelelemend, who was head chief of the Delaware Indian Council are buried within the enclosure. There are also several rows of Indian graves and a few other missionaries buried in the cemetery. Zeisbergers Memorial Cemetery, sometimes called the Goshen-Indian Cemetery, is located between Goshen Valley Road SE (Township Hwy 322) and David Road SE in Goshen. A Moravian village was established in Goshen in 1798 by David Zeisberger, of Pennsylvania, and a band of Christian Indians. For 16 years after the Gnadenhutten massacre in 1782 the little band of refugees had moved from place to place. In 1798 they went back to Tuscarawas, setting up new villages on the 12,000 acres of land granted them by Congress, and prospered for a while. But the deaths of the missionaries and the return of Pastor Heckwelder to Pennsylvania left the Ohio converts without effective guidance, and Goshen and the other missions settlements declined. In 1832 Goshen ceded its holdings to the Government for $6,654, and the town virtually disappeared. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F10_036_1
Subjects: Cemeteries--Ohio--Tuscarawas County; Moravian Church--Missions--Ohio--History; Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782; Zeisberger, David, 1721-1808
Places: Goshen (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: “Monument erected in memory of death of 90 Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten O. Tus. Co.” This photograph shows a 35 foot tall limestone (another account says Indiana Marble) obelisk bearing the inscription (on the south side): "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians, March 8, 1782." The north side bears the date of the dedication ceremony. The Gnadenhutten Monument Fund commissioned R.S. Miller of Indiana to construct the memorial, in 1871. It stands in the in the center of the old village, in the Gnadenhutten Historical Park and Cemetery, on Cherry Street. The Gnadenhutten massacre, also known as the Moravian massacre, was the killing on March 8, 1782, of ninety-six Christian Lenape (Delaware) by colonial American militia from Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War. The incident took place at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhütten, Ohio, near present-day Gnadenhutten. The site of the village was preserved. A reconstructed cabin and cooper's house were built there, and a monument to the dead was erected. The village site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B14F01_004_001
Subjects: Monuments--Ohio; Memorials--Ohio; Obelisks; Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1935-1940, this is a photograph of a plaque which reads "Burial Place of Remains of Indian Martyrs. 1782--1798." In the nine-acre plot at Gnadenhutten, German for "Tents of Grace," is a stone monument commemorating the 96 Christian American Indians massacred in 1872 by white men. They are buried in the mound inside the park. After David Zeisberger had established Moravian missions for the Indians at Schoenbrunn, a group of Christian Indians led by Joshua, a Mohican elder, came in 1772 and founded Gnadenhutten. Surrounded by American Indian groups, a ring of British forts on the west, and freebooters in nearby settlements, the little community held on until 1781 when a white renegade, Elliott, and Delware (Lenape) chiefs, Captain Pipe and Half-King, forced the American Indians at Gnadenhutten to move to the Sandusky plains. The winter was severe and their meager supplies ran low. In February of the following year, a large group returned to the Tuscarawas valley to salvage what they could of the crops remaining in the fields. At the same time, a punitive expedition under Captain David Williamson left Pennsylvania for Gnadenhutten, arriving on March 7, the day before the American Indians were to return to Sandusky. Feigning friendship, the soldiers easily succeeded in disarming the men, and imprisoned them in one building, placing the women and children in another. The American Indians spend the night in prayer, while the militiamen got drunk. At dawn, the executions began. One soldier felled fourteen American Indians before he relinquished his tomahawk. Gnadenhutten was pillaged and burned. Two American Indian boys who had been scalped escaped to Schoenbrunn to warn their fellow Christians. This heinous massacre further aroused Ohio natives against the white Americans. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F01_021
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; American Indian history; Tuscarawas County (Ohio); Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas (Ohio)
 

Description: This monument to the American Indians who were massacred at Gnadenhutten was erected in 1872. The inscription reads, "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians March 8 1782." The photograph measures 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm). Gnadenhutten, which means "huts of grace," was settled by Moravian missionaries and Mohican Indians in 1772. The Indians converted to Christianity, wore Western dress and lived in European-style villages. In September 1781, British troops tried to get the Indians to support them against the colonists in the Revolutionary War. When they refused, Indians at Gnadenhutten and nearby Schoenbrunn and Salem were rounded up and taken to present-day Sandusky County, Ohio. Conditions there were harsh, and in February a group of Indians were given permission to briefly return to Gnadenhutten to gather food. Once they arrived in Gnadenhutten, however, a force under Colonel Williamson accused them of stealing and raiding American settlements in Pennsylvania. After spending the night praying and singing, ninety Indians, including women and children, were killed on March 8, 1782 and Gnadenhutten was burned. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3151_3928602_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Monuments & memorials; Gnadenhutten Massacre
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of children during a stage performance of "Tents of Grace," a play written by Elizabeth Ann James and put on by the Columbus Junior Theater of the Arts, March 4, 1989. The play was about the massacre of members of the Delaware Tribe by United States soldiers at the settlement of Gnadenhutten in 1782. The Columbus Junior Theater of the Arts was founded in 1963, and is now known as the Columbus Children’s Theatre. The Columbus Free Press began as a bi-weekly publication in Columbus, Ohio, in 1970. An underground newspaper, it replaced the Ohio State University publication The People, Yes. The earliest known issue of the newspaper appeared on January 4, 1971. The newspaper underwent a series of name changes over the decades, with titles including the Columbus Free Press & Cowtown Times (1972-1976), the Columbus Freepress (1976-1992) and The Free Press (1992-1995). The paper, which covered many liberal and progressive causes, was an alternative to mainstream news sources in central Ohio with the slogan “The Other Side of the News.” In 1995, the paper ceased publication briefly before reemerging as a website in early 1996, and returning as a print publication under the Free Press title in the form of a quarterly journal in 1998. Published under various frequencies during the first part of the 21st century, the Free Press again became a nonprofit monthly publication in 2017 with both a print and web presence, published by the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism and operated by a volunteer staff and board. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1301AV_B02F05_01
Subjects: Actors; Actresses; Arts and entertainment; Theater--Ohio; Children--Ohio; Gnadenhutten Massacre;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows a memorial to Gnadenhutten, a Moravian church. The memorial reads "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians March 8, 1782". Gnadenhutten is the oldest settlement in Ohio, a settlement of German American and Lenape American Indians. The Moravian Church founded the village as a mission to the American Indians. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06565
Subjects: Gnadenhutten Massacre; American Indians; Moravian Church--Missions--Ohio; Delaware Indians--History--18th century
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Josua, a Mohican convert and missionary leader, led Mohican and Munsee Christians downriver and settled Gnadenhutten (Tents of Grace) on October 9, 1772. This image depicts his grave. The tombstone reads "Joshua A Mohican Indian the Moravian Elder died August 1, 1775 Oldest memorial in Ohio". The remnants of the original gravestone are encased in acrylic within a new marker. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06566
Subjects: Gnadenhutten Massacre; American Indians; Moravian Church--Missions--Ohio; Delaware Indians--History--18th century
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)